Public Transportation’s Role In Responding to Climate Change

Public Transportation’s Role in Responding to Climate Change [PDF]

This paper details the role public transportation has in responding to the challenge of climate change.  It collects and analyzes data from across the country on public transportation fuel use, vehicles deployed, rides taken, and other key metrics, drawn from the National Transit Database at the Federal Transit Administration.

This data, combined with information from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides valuable insight into the relative impacts of automobile, truck, SUV, and public transportation travel on the production of greenhouse gas emissions. National level data shows significant greenhouse gas emission savings by use of public transportation, which offers a low emissions alternative to driving. This paper presents an analysis of the data and frames it in a broader context, and concludes with a description of FTA actions that address climate change.